Striper Night Fishing

[FISH YAK'N]

I would like to try fishing for stripers at night. Can some of you with more experience offer some pointers and recommendations such as rigging...basically how to best catch them. Thanks in advance.

[J-Doc]

1) It's possible

2) It's very dangerous

I've been staying out till late and we'll after dark lately. I've seen a lot of boaters running without lights or minimum light use. So please consider this when selecting an area and avoid main waterways used for navigation. Stay closer to the banks within 100-150yrds if possible. I'd hate for someone to run over you because they were not paying enough attention and didn't see you. And be sure and use navigational lights. Not sure how that works on a yak but I'd use lights for sure.

As for bait, that can vary. Top water can be a good option. Live bait is also good wwith line out from 50-100ft behind your vessel and moving about .6-.1mph.

The hard part is finding the stripers. In a yak, you can't pick up and move to another area so easily so you're pretty committed to an area. Which can be a good thing for an angler sometimes.

You can try the 12 bridge area but like I said, be very cautious and watch out for other boats. Keep a bright light handy and be prepared to part someone's hair with that light. :-)

[Stump bumper]

I have heard rattle traps at night were great for stripers but never tried it myself.

[1969Larson]

You could try casting big redfins and pencil poppers at main lake points ... Especially ones with submerged rock piles or underwater humps. Getting a blow up from a huge striper like this is about as much fun as it gets. However, the guys I know who do this try several points each time they go out before finding fish and sometimes never do. That could be lots of paddling in a kayak.

[FISH YAK'N]

Thanks for the tips and sharing your knowledge. Currently, I only kayak fish during the day and always cautious while on the water. I always wear my pfd, neon color clothing and use a flag on my kayak. I will be installing bright LED lights before going out at night.

[Gofishmore]

Night fishing is the best, but as doc explained, some of the boat out after dark do not pay attention. I have a 20 pontoon with led down both sides. Last year I had a 30 plus ft boat running over 40 come within 8 ft, only thing that saved us was I was able to start big motor and move out of way at the last min.

You can only give Right of Way,

You can not take it

Be safe and have fun

[bferg]

If I was going to night fish for Stripers I would use the following:

- pencil pop'r

- Kai Tech

- Redfin/wake baits

- A- Rig

Keep in mind, I don't really use live bait- that is probably always the best option...

Some other areas I would try- that I think statistically you would almost have to run into some fish at some point and not have to paddle too far:

12 Bridge/Beaver Shores area- but this is pretty high traffic as stated above...I would be careful.

Some safer options might be:

Back of PC by the dirt ramp

Back of Rocky Branch by the ramp out to the main lake

White Bass Cove by the dam

All of those areas would require pretty minimal paddling- as soon as you are in the water you could be fishing.

[Dan Sweeney]

Being a row boat guy, I'm paying attention to this thread as well and thank everyone in advance for the tips.

[Amery]

What do you mean "row boat"?

[Dan Sweeney]

A boat you row.